Iron Man Galaxies
by Project Phoenix Agent 003
Summary: Teenager Tony Stark finds a prototype alien armor, and he uses it to become the Invincible Iron Man. Join him as he battles the Extremis Empire, the Hulk, crazed Russian scientists, and so much more. Iron Man on a whole new level.
1. Intorduction

_**Alright. A few things to know right off the back. Tony Stark is not rich. He is a teenager. He is still a genius. Alright that's it. The rest of the story will explain itself.**_

Iron Man crashed through the wall in a burst off light, smashing the couch he landed on. The old lady who been sitting on the couch screamed and ran off. Iron Man stood up, rubbing his armored head.

"Ow…" he groaned. He shook his head and dusted off his red and silver armor. "Uh, sorry about your wall, and couch, and mental scarring."

His boot jets roared to life and he shot into the sky again.

_Wait! I'm getting ahead of myself. See the one in the red and silver armor? That's me. Tony Stark, teenaged prodigy and the world's gift to women. Up until a few weeks ago, I was a "normal" human. Going to high school, planning founding of my own company (I'm thinking Stark Enterprises. No, no, maybe Stark Industries.), and hanging out with my best friends Rhodey and Pepper. But then, everything changed._

As he reached higher altitudes, Iron Man found himself in the center of a circle of Extremis soldiers. They all raised their arms and their wrist lasers powered up. Iron Man charged his own palm repulsors and fired, blasting two armored Extremis soldiers out of the sky. The others open fired, peppering Iron Man's shields.

_Notice anything different about me now? New hair cut maybe? Nope, it's the high-tech piece of alien armor I'm wearing. Pretty stylish huh? And it lets me do all kinds of incredible stuff, like this…_

Iron Man's triangular chest light slowly began glowing, until he unleashed the unibeam, cleaving through the remaining Extremis soldiers. The hero spun around as his armor's sensors picked up an Extremis armor head his way. His optics zoomed in on the approaching dot. Iron Man stiffened as he saw his Titanium Man approaching.

_And this…_

Iron Man routed as much power to his boot jets as possible and shot forward like a rocket, aimed for Titanium Man. The two armor titans clashed together, sending out a massive shockwave that shattered glass, shook the earth, and tripped car alarms.

_And other stuff. But the bottom line is, I'm now a super hero under the widely known name of Iron Man. I've fought everything from the common jay walker to crazed mad scientist and his giant robot, but I mostly find myself fighting the alien menace of the Extremis. It's a hard job, and the rewards are few and far between. So far between, I'm still waiting for my first reward._

The two armored titan traded blows and repulsor blasts, trying to gain the upper hand. Titanium Man's armor was stronger, more durable, and faster than Iron Man's, but Iron Man had…his wits? Not fair. Titanium Man fired a blast from his unibeam, sending Iron Man crashing into the earth.

"Ugh, damn you gravity!" Iron Man cursed as he stood up.

_Yeah, the life of a super hero is a lonely one, not to mention difficult, stressful, draining, and most likely going to end with a big boom. But it has its perks. Like…uh…_

Titanium Man landed in front of Iron Man and scooped him up in a fierce bear hug, attempting to crush the hero. Iron Man groaned in pain.

"I know you like me but I _need _my space dude," Iron Man joked.

The unibeam fired from Iron Man's chest, knocking Titanium Man back. Iron Man shot forward on his boot jets and punched Titanium Man in the face, followed by another punch to the jaw, a kick to the stomach, and ending with a fierce uppercut.

Titanium Man staggered back, dazed but unhurt. He raised his arms, preparing to fire his plasma lasers. Iron Man charged his own repulsors. They fired at the same instant, and the two unique energy beams crashed together in a crackle of energy. They both kept up the pressure, seeing who would crack first.

Iron Man checked his power levels. 55% and falling.

"Repulsors over heating," the armor warned. "Power levels falling. Shields failing. Life-Support malfunctioning."

"Reroute all power to repulsors," Iron Man ordered.

The brilliance of Iron Man's weapons increased and the repulsors overpowered Titanium Man's plasma lasers. Titanium Man was blasted backward by the repulsors and he skidded across the street.

_But I'm a hero. It's what I was born to be. I'm Tony Stark. I am Iron Man, and this is my story._

_**Woo! Pretty good huh? Don't worry, future chapters will be much, much longer than this. This was just a kind of intro to show you where I'm going with this whole brew-ha. So yes, catch Iron Man Galaxies Sundays at 10am (PST) on the Project Phoenix Agent 003 channel starting…I don't know. Eventually. So yeah keep a look out for this story/show/whatever.**_


	2. Iron Origins

Deep in his lab below his family's apartment, Tony continued work on his latest project. He was working on a skin-tight technology interface suit. When it was done, it would allow him to wirelessly link up to and control computers and other technology with a thought.

**"Tony!" Rhodey called from upstairs. "Tony are you still down there?"**

Tony looked up from his work. "Huh? I'm down here Rhodey."

Rhodey walked down the stairs into the lab. The place was a mess with papers strewn everywhere and bits of machinery lined the tables and shelves.

"What are you working on now?" Rhodey asked.

"Just something that should allow man kind to manipulate machinery through thought," Tony explained.

"And you're doing this…why?" Rhodey asked.

"I was bored," Tony said as he idly worked.

"So you decided to create the next great invention of the world?" Rhodey asked in disbelief. Tony just grunted.

"Geniuses," Rhodey grumbled. "You know we have school tomorrow right?"

"That's tomorrow, this is today," Tony said. "Besides, when have I ever neededto study, sleep, or in any way try for school?"

"Show off," Rhodey accused.

"So what if I am?" Tony shot back with a smile.

Rhodey rolled his eyes and left Tony to his work. Tony continued late into the night, until finally it was done. Tony tried on the suit. It was skin tight, all black body suit that fit him perfectly. It didn't have gloves and the collar only came up about an inch. Tony slipped his real clothes on over the suit. The black sleeves didn't stand out now that he had a normal shirt over them, and his jeans completely hid the leg section of the suit.

"Now to see if it works," Tony mumbled. He focused on his phone, and suddenly the phone turned on and called Pepper Potts, a girl Tony just so happened to have on his mind.

"Oh crap! Hang up hang up!" Tony shouted.

The phone hung up as ordered. Tony breathed a sigh of relief. The suit worked, and Tony could control technology with his mind. Tony went to sleep, fully dressed and still wearing the tech interface suit.

* * *

Above Earth, a lonely space ship orbited the planet. The ship of the Extremis, an alien race capable of manipulating technology through thought.

In the command bridge, an armored Extremis soldier walked in, dressed in Mk IV Extremis armor.

"Sir, technicians have completed work on the prototype Mk VII," the soldier reported. "Our scouts have also returned from their mission to Earth. It would seem the Emperor was correct. Human physiology is capable of accepting the Extremis virus."

"Excellent," the captain said. "Then very soon the invasion will begin."

* * *

"No," Tony argued.

"I'm telling you man, it's true," Rhodey boasted happily.

"Rhodey, there is no way that you asked out Whitney Frost today when I was in the bathroom," Tony insisted.

Rhodey gave up. "Alright so I didn't. But I was going to!"

Tony laughed. "Sure you were."

The two friends went back and forth like that as they walked home from school. Like all New Yorkers, they didn't bother to look up much. But if they had, they would've noticed the flaming meteorite streak through the sky and smash into the park. But they would notice it soon enough.

"So you got any homework tonight?" Rhodey asked.

"Finished it in class," Tony shrugged. "Looks like it'll be another boring night of nothing for me. How bout you? Homework?"

"Up to my eyeballs in it," Rhodey groaned. "But I'll manage."

Tony nodded. "Well I'm not staying cooped up at my place all day. Maybe I'll go for a walk in the park."

"Which is Tony-speak for: Maybe I'll go to the park to look for hot girls jogging," Rhodey joked.

"Maybe," Tony admitted.

"Your sick man," Rhodey accused as he walked to his apartment building.

"Whatever. See you at school tomorrow!" Tony called as he walked off.

* * *

High above the Earth, a single assault ship orbited the planet. Inside the ship, things had taken a turn for the better/worse.

"WHAT!" the captain shouted. "What do you mean it was lost?"

"The new Mark VII prototype was lost when we encountered a solar wind storm sir," the underling reported. "The cargo was lost, but we believe it has safely crash landed on the planet Earth."

"Then what are you still doing here?" the captain ordered. "Get down to there, and find that armor!"

"Yes sir!" the soldier shouted and took off.

* * *

Back on Earth, Tony hadn't seen any hot girls in the park, so he'd actually started going for a walk. By chance, or maybe by fate, he saw smoke rising out of the grass a distance away from the path. Tony slowly crept up to the smoking crater, unsure what he would find. What he saw amazed him.

Before him was a large metal pod about seven feet long. As Tony crept up to it, his tech-interface suit sent out a signal, and unseen hinges on the pod hissed open. Steam rose out of the now open crevices in the pod, blinding Tony. When the smoke cleared, Tony reached out and slowly opened the pod. Inside was a humanoid robot made of all silver metal and two glowing blue eye-slits. It also had a mouth slit, and on the chest was a glowing blue triangle.

Tony knocked on the chest like he was knocking on a door. A hollow sound was made. It wasn't a robot. It was an armor.

"No way…" Tony mumbled with a smile on his face. For a genius like him, this was too cool. "What is this thing?"

Tony's hand moved across the metal, feeling it. Abruptly, the faceplate slid back, and Ton jerked his hand back in surprise. Proceeding with caution, Tony lifted the helmet assembly up and held it up, admiring it. Out of curiosity, he slipped the helmet on and closed the faceplate down and back into place. Inside it was dark, but the helmet fit Tony's head comfortably.

"Too cool," Tony breathed.

Tony wondered what the armor was like if it were on, and suddenly the dark interior of the helmet was lit up, and displays and images filled Tony's vision. Focusing, he soon began to make sense of the various images. One showed his position on Earth, another was a map of his surroundings, a different one showed the helmet was recording everything it saw and heard.

"This…is…" Tony was at a loss for words, and his eyes fell on the rest of the armor. Very soon he had assembled the armor over his own clothes. The armor locked itself in place, resealing air locks, calibrating joints, stabilizing motion sensors, and so much more. As the last auto screw finished spinning, Tony began to figure out how the armor's heads up display (HUD) worked. He soon closed down everything so that he was down to only what he would see with his own eyes.

The armor gave his vision a slightly blue tint to it, but Tony didn't mind much. He was mostly ecstatic that the armor fit so perfectly on him. He test flexed his arm. It felt…different.

"Oh man this is unbearably cool. I wonder who made this. China? NASA? No, Area 51! Wait no they deal with aliens what was I thinking. Uh…"

Tony knew he had to tell Rhodey about this…this…thing. Instantly, he heard the tone of a dialing phone.

"What the? Okay as cool as that is it's also kinda creepy. This thing is reading my mind or something."

"Tony? What's up man?" Rhodey answered.

"Huh? Rhodey you're not going to believe what happened to me!" Tony shouted. "I just found–"

Tony was interrupted by a scream. "Rhodey I'm gonna have to call you back something's wrong!"

"Tony what is it? Tony!" but Tony hung up and ran off in the direction of the scream.

"Damn this thing is slow," Tony muttered to himself as he ran at an odd pace. At that moment thrusters roared to life underneath Tony's feet and he shot forward like a rocket, soon exiting the park.

"Whoa!" Tony shouted as he flew into open traffic. "How do you steer this thing?"

Tony saw what he was about to crash into. A huge semi truck hauling a fully loaded trailer.

"OH GOOD GOD!" Tony shouted, thinking that he had met his end.

Instead, the truck smashed into him and after crumpling in the front, flipped end over end over the armored teen.

Tony somehow managed a hover and looked at the ruined semi. He looked down at himself. The armor didn't have a scratch on it. The HUD clicked to life and showed it was running a quick damage assessment. Green lights across the board.

"Well that's convenient," he mumbled.

Another scream filled the night, reminding Tony why he'd been running earlier. He shot through the sky as his armor's sensors traced the sound waves of the scream back to their source.

"Is there anything this thing can't do?" Tony wondered.

Tony landed behind three men who were closing in on a young girl, about Tony's age.

"Seriously guys this is so cliché. Mugging the beautiful girl? I mean at least rob an old lady or a buff dude. Mix it up a little yeesh," Tony joked.

All three men spun around and gasped. Tony wondered why, and then remembered he was still in the armor. The armor added five inches to his height and made his build seem far more impressive than it really was.

"Who the heck are you?" one of them asked.

"Uh…I'm Robo cop and you're all under arrest," Tony said, taking a heroic pose.

The men looked at each other.

"Lame!" one of them shouted.

"Seriously man you gotta come up with something better than that," the lead thug said. "Like uh…Iron Man."

Tony looked at his armor. "Yeah…I seriously doubt this thing is made of iron."

"Who cares? It's catchy," the third one reasoned.

"Well who can argue with that logic?" Iron Man asked, and then punched one of the thugs in the face.

He followed up by elbowing one in the stomach and sending him flying into the wall with a back fist. Down to one thug, Iron Man kicked him through the wall of a building. Iron Man smiled under his helmet.

"Um, thank you?" the girl mumbled.

Iron Man looked her over. She was familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Went to his school maybe? Pictures of every girl at his school suddenly flashed through the HUD, until the armor's computers found a match. Pepper Potts.

"Don't mention it Pep– ma'am. It's all in a day's work for Iron Man. Yeah, I like the sound of that," Iron Man said proudly.

With that, he flew off into the night, crashing into a building on the way up. Pepper watched her armored savior fly away. What had he said his name was?

"Iron Man, huh?" Pepper said with a smile.

* * *

The next day at school was interesting to say the least. Tony had stashed the armor in his backpack, and as such didn't have any room for his text books. He didn't need them anyway, not when he'd memorized them. The armor was surprisingly light, and Tony carried the backpack with ease.

"Tony!" Rhodey called when he saw his best friend. He waved him over to the circle of kids that had gathered.

Besides Rhodey, there was Pepper, Happy Hogan, and Nick. They all either waved or said hi to Tony.

"And then he just beat them to a pulp like they were nothing!" Pepper yelled, continuing her story.

"What are you guys talking about?" Tony asked, playing dumb.

"Iron Man," Pepper said.

"Something's not right with this Iron Man guy. He could be a Russian experiment, sent here to steal US secrets," Nick speculated.

"Stop," Rhodey said. "Just…stop. Why must everything be a conspiracy with you Nick?"

Nick just shrugged. "Eh, don't say I didn't warn you guys about Hydra."

"There's no such thing as Hydra Nick," Tony told him for the billionth time.

"Tell that to Dugan and Hill," Nick said solemly.

"Whatever," Pepper said. "The point is, there's a super hero in New York. Granted his look is off…"

"Off?" Tony asked. "What's wrong with m– Iron Man's look?"

"It's too robot," Pepper said. "It needs some color. Ooh! Like some hot rod red down the"

Tony didn't really pay attention to what Pepper said after that. But he agreed that the suit needed some color, and he like the idea of the color red. As the others continued to talk about Iron Man and Nick continued to spout conspiracy theories, Tony was busy thinking about the armor. Where did it come from? Could anybody operate it, or did they need a tech-interface suit like his? Who made it? So many questions…

"Hello?" Tony woke up from his trance.

"Huh? What? Where am I?" Tony mumbled, still dazed.

"That was the final bell Tony," Rhodey told his friend. "School's out for the day."

"I can leave now? Joy."

On the way home, Rhodey brought up something tony had meant to tell him last night.

"Can you believe Pepper's Iron Man story?" Rhodey asked. "I mean, I kinda think she's making it up–"

"I'm Iron Man," Tony blurted.

"What?" Rhodey asked.

"I. Am. Iron Man," Tony repeated. "The armor is in my backpack right now. I can control it because of the tech-interface suit I showed you earlier. It flies, it amplifies strength, and who knows what else."

"Wow. That's….wow," Rhodey said.

"Exactly. So I'm a super hero now, and since you know, that makes you my sidekick."

"Sidekick?" Rhodey cried, outraged.

"Yes. We can even give you a name. Iron Lad," Tony teased.

_Hey. Tony Stark here. I'm still learning how to use the suit and finding out what it can do, and I've already got my first super villain! Doesn't look very well put together, but hard to argue with a thirty-foot tall Russian robot. Next time on Iron Man Galaxies: Crash of the Crimson Dynamo! Dang that thing is ugly! _

**And that concludes the first ever episode of Iron Man Galaxies. I plan on doing a full season of this, followed by season two. Anyway, now that the show has launched, tell me what you think! Do you like the idea of the story? Hate it? Tell me! Constuctive critcism appreciated, flames accepted, annonymous reviews enabled. I don't care people, just review! **

**Oh. I don't own Iron Man in any way shape or form because if I did he would have lost the Marvel Civil War. Anti-Reg all the way!**


	3. Crash of the Crimson Dynamo

"Everybody down!" the lead robber shouted. He let off a warning shot from his AK-47 to show he was serious.

Tony Stark, who happened to be at the bank that day, did not go down like everybody else. Instead, he ran for the bathroom. The lead robber fired off a few shots at Tony, but they deflected off his backpack.

Tony entered the bathroom and ran to the farthest stall. As soon as he was in he opened up his backpack and took out the helmet of the Iron Man armor. He slipped it on, and thanks to his tech-interface suit he wore underneath his clothes, he activated the helmet with a thought.

The HUD blinked to life as Tony assembled the armor over him. First the gauntlets, then the chest plate…

The man with the AK-47 burst into the bathroom kicking in each stall and firing bullets into it. He hadn't reached Tony's stall yet, but he would very soon. He continued his pattern, stopping once to reload. He was now two stalls away and Tony still wasn't fully armored up yet.

Tony clicked the last piece of the thigh armor on and the armor did the rest, sealing and locking into place. The man kicked in Tony's stall, only to find a red and silver armored super hero waiting for him. He froze, and nearly dropped the Ak-47 he was holding.

Iron Man looked at the weapon, then back up at the man. "Are you sure?"

The man shook his head. Iron Man reached out and bent the barrel of the gun backwards until it pointed at the man holding it.

"Good choice," Iron Man congratulated, and then punched the man in the chest. Iron Man walked out of the bathroom and back into the bank, where the three other armed men were busy cleaning out the bank vaults.

"Hey guys," Iron Man greeted. "Shoot me."

All three men spun around and squeezed their triggers without even bothering to look at who they were shooting. The bullets pinged harmlessly off of Iron Man's armor, and he yawned. Finally, all three men ran out of ammo and were forced to reload. Iron Man calmly walked up to the nearest robber, took his gun from his hands, and crumpled it into a little ball. The law breaker trembled in front of the hero, and meekly caught the ball that had once been his gun.

"Hold that for will ya?" Iron Man asked, and then turned his sights on the other two men.

The hero picked up the thug who was still trembling and hurled him at his comrades, and they all fell to the floor in a heap. Underneath his helmet, Iron Man smiled.

"Alright citizens you're free to…" the hero stopped because he realized all the bank patrons had fled while he had distracted the men.

"No gratitude these days," the Iron Avenger mumbled as he lifted up all three men involved in the heist with ease. "Alright guys, let's go pick up your boss…"

* * *

"This American hero this…Iron Man," Ivan Vanko muttered. "What do we know about him?"

"Nothing, other than he flies, he's strong, and he apparently does not shoot laser beams out of his eyeballs," his comrade informed him.

"That armor…" the scientist said hungrily. "I want that armor. It must be studied, and if possible, reproduced. Imagine what Russia could do with an army of iron soldiers."

"True," his comrade agreed. "But I don't think he's going to let us burrow his armor."

The scientist turned to his dim witted comrade. "Really? What if we asked nicely?"

"Nope. I don't think he'd give it to any–"

Ivan backhanded the dim wit, shutting him up. "Of course he's not going to give us that armor you idiot! We are going to have to take it."

"How?"

"Is the Dynamo ready for testing?"

"Oh, I like how you think!"

* * *

"Why are we here?" Rhodey asked has he sat down on an old car that hadn't run in years.

Iron Man looked at his "sidekick". "I told you, I still have next to no idea what this armor is capable of. So we're out here to test it."

"And we came to the junkyard…why?" Rhodey asked.

"So no one gets hurt when I go on a destructive rampage," the hero answered simply.

"Oh," Rhodey muttered. "Yeah that makes sense."

"I know right?" Iron Man agreed. "Now let's see how strong this thing is…"

Iron Man walked over to a wrecked car and lifted it over his head as it were made of Styrofoam. He tossed it off to the side, and went about piling other heavy hunks of metal on top of it. Once he was sure they were all piled securely together, he lifted it over his head and held it with ease.

"Is that heavy to you?" Rhodey asked. "Like at all?"

"Um, I can feel its weight, but honestly no this isn't taking much effort," Iron Man explained. He set the pile of cars and metal aside.

Iron Man studied his armor's HUD in full. He searched through for anything interesting. He found it. One of the many messages displayed on his HUD showed what on the armor was online and what was off.

_Armor primary sensors: Online_

_Motion amplifiers: Online_

_Armor AI: Offline_

_Repulsor safety lock: Online_

_Shields: Offline_

_Flight thrusters: Online_

_Armor secondary sensors: Offline_

_Unibeam: Offline_

_Extremis tracking unit: Offline_

_Auto-Assemble: Offline_

"Hmm…safety lock huh? Let's turn that off…" the hero mused.

_Repulsor safety lock: Offline_

Iron Man looked at his palms as armor plating slid back to reveal a glowing disc in the center of each palm. As a test, he pointed his hand at one of the nearby cars and fired. The repulsor blast shot out, blasting the car to bits.

"Oh yeah! That's what I'm talking about!" Iron Man shouted. "Rhodey did you see that?"

Rhodey was cowering behind the beat up car he'd been sitting on earlier. He gave Iron Man a weak thumbs up. Iron Man readied his repulsors and fired again, but with more control this time. The blast wasn't nearly as big, and it merely knocked its target car on its side.

As the hero continued to practice, he soon got the hang off the repulsors. All that left to test was his boot jets.

"Stand back Rhodey," Iron Man warned. "I'm taking this thing to full throttle as fast as possible."

Rhodey stood off at what he figured would be a safe distance. Iron Man steadied himself for take off, looked to the sky, and shot up far faster than any rocket. A massive sonic boom shook the earth as he took off, nearly blowing out Rhodey's eardrums. Iron Man checked the speedometer in his HUD. He was going Mach 8 straight up. Not used to the speed, Iron Man killed power to his boot jets.

Immediately Iron Man dropped like a rock back to Earth. He fell fast, and the armor started to heat up. Iron Man was sweating inside his armor as flames licked the helmet and the rest of the armor. He struggled to move, but in his haste to turn off the boot jets, he'd turned off the entire armor. Without the armor to enhance his strength, Iron Man couldn't move his arms against the g-force. Iron Man clenched his jaw and awaited the impact. He crashed into the ground back at the junkyard, leaving a large crater. Cautiously, Rhodey approached the crater, peering down at his best friend.

"Tony!" Rhodey shouted when he saw his smoking friend.

Inside the armor, a dazed Iron Man watched as his HUD slowly winked back to life. He flashed Rhodey a weak thumbs up.

"That…was…AWESOME!" Iron Man shouted.

At the end of the day, Tony let the armor disconnect and collapse as he stowed it back in his backpack.

"Well sidekick, today we learned I'm the strongest man alive, the thrusters are very, very fast, and the armor possesses some wicked awesome weapons," Tony joked.

"I told you, I'm not your sidekick," Rhodey grumbled.

"You know your right," Tony said. He paused for effect before continuing his joke. "You're more of a butler type anyway. Alfred, go get me some cheese."

"What the? Why cheese?" Rhodey asked.

Tony just shrugged. "Because I feel like making my butler get me some cheese is that so wrong?"

"It is if I'm not your butler!" Rhodey hissed.

"Well then it's a good thing you are," Tony teased. Rhodey groaned.

The two walked home, arguing and joking like always, and once again failed to look up and notice the huge object hurtling over their heads. But this time instead of crashing in the park, the huge object crashed in the middle of Times Square. They didn't notice, but they would soon.

As they went their separate ways and Tony entered his family's apartment, his mother quickly called him to the living room.

"What is it Mom?" Tony asked.

"Look what's happening in Times Square!" she shouted and pointed at the TV.

"_We're here live in Times Square as a thirty-foot tall metal menace calling itself the Crimson Dynamo is terrorizing Manhattan!" the reporter yelled. "Police attempts to bring down the metal monster has failed so far but– OH GOD! LOOK OUT!"_

_A huge robot with a glowing star on its chest came into view. It saw the cameras and its large hand groped forward, and then the picture went static._

"Oh god," Tony whispered. "Mom I have to go, I uh…promised I'd help Rhodey study!"

"Be home by eleven!" his mother called as he took off.

Tony raced to the alley behind his home and donned the armor as fast as possible. As soon as it was on, he fired up his boot jets and flew off into the late afternoon sky. Iron Man soon caught sight of the destruction at Times Square. There wasn't a single building that hadn't been smashed up by the Crimson Dynamo, and it didn't even look like it was done smashing.

The Crimson Dynamo didn't look very well put together, and his armor plating looked like a patchwork of various sheet metals found at the junkyard. Not to mention he was painted with at least forty different shades of red patched across his body. The only thing that looked remotely impressive was the brilliant blue star on his chest. Oh, and the whole thirty-foot tall thing.

"Hey ugly? Is that a star n your chest or are you just happy to see me?" Iron Man joked as he slammed into the robot at the speed of sound.

The Crimson Dynamo only staggered back before swatting Iron Man out of the sky like a fly.

"AHH!" Iron Man screamed as he fell. "Curse you Newton!"

He smacked into the pavement hard enough to leave an Iron Man shaped imprint in the pavement. Slowly, the hero stood up.

"So…" Crimson Dynamo slowly spoke. "You are the famous Iron Man?"

"What if I am?" Iron Man lashed out.

The Crimson Dynamo slammed its hand down and would've crushed Iron Man if he hadn't dodged with superhuman speed.

"Okay. You wanna play rough? Fine by me!"

Iron Man shoved his hands into the pavement and tore out a chunk of the street. He lifted the rock over his head and hurled it at the Dynamo. The rock hit full force, but the Dynamo barely staggered at the impact. Iron Man soared up into the sky to meet his opponent face to face. He smacked the Dynamo across the face, followed by a left jab, right hook, right elbow, left knee and finishing off with a mule kick, all to Dynamo's face. The robot staggered under the onslaught before rocket launchers slid out of his shoulders and trained themselves on Iron Man.

"He has rockets…of course he does," Iron Man complained.

The rockets streaked forward, all aimed at Iron Man. He shot up into the sky, but the missiles followed. Iron Man turned, now flying backwards as he fired off his repulsors. The repulsor shots struck all but one of the missiles, and Iron Man performed a tight loop and flew back toward Crimson Dynamo. At the last second, he performed a barrel roll off to the right, but the missile continued forward, smashing into Crimson Dynamo.

Crimson Dynamo responded by raising his left hand, and paneling slid back to reveal each of his fingers was really a…Vulcan minigun. Great. Just great.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Iron Man shouted as he dodged a storm of bullets. They tore into the pavement and buildings, but none hit Iron Man. Well not at first anyway. But the next thing he knew a stream of bullets clipped his shoulder plate, and he veered out of control through the sky. He crashed into a nearby building, no wait, _through _a nearby building and out the other side.

He shook his armored head as he stabilized himself. As soon as he had his wits about him, he shot up and over the building he'd crashed through and then slammed back down on Crimson Dynamo. He followed up by blasting the star on Dynamo's chest with his repulsors, and then finished the onslaught by delivering a mule kick to the chest, complete with a burst of power from the boot jets.

Crimson Dynamo fell backward, slamming into the nearest skyscraper and bringing a good portion of it down in the process.

* * *

Back in Russia, Ivan Vanko, who was controlling the Crimson Dynamo, was not happy.

"Argh! That wretched little fool! I will have his head for this! Computer! Set the Dynamo to self destruct! See if "Iron Man" survives that!"

* * *

"Crimson Dynamo huh?" Iron Man wondered as he landed on top of the defeated robot. "I suppose that's a fancy way of saying made in Russia. Based on this, I can safely rule them out as my armor's builder."

Iron Man tried to run a scan of the Dynamo, but a message flashed on his HUD.

_Armor secondary sensors: Offline_

Using his HUD, Iron Man quickly diverted power, bring both the secondary sensors and by sheer luck the Armor AI online.

"Armor AI online," the armor announced. "Running full scan of Crimson Dynamo unit."

"Um, thank you?" Iron Man thanked his armor. "Uh, computer, commence full reboot of armor systems and functions?"

"Reboot commencing," the armor informed. "Standby."

"I'll be honest I didn't think that would work," Iron Man said with a smile.

"Reboot successful. Full system scan in progress."

"Okay I really need to get used to you talking," Iron Man told his armor.

"Indeed you should sir," the armor agreed.

"Whoa! You can understand me?" Iron Man asked.

"Affirmative. System scan complete sir. Would you like to review the results?" the armor asked.

"Sure…why not?"

_Armor primary sensors: Online_

_Motion amplifiers: Online_

_Armor AI: Online_

_Repulsor safety lock: Offline_

_Shields: Online_

_Flight thrusters: Online_

_Armor secondary sensors: Online_

_Unibeam: Online_

_Extremis tracking unit: Online_

_Auto-Assemble: Online_

"Scan of the Dynamo unit is complete sir," the armor reported. "Warning. Crimson Dynamo unit is set to critical. Self-destruction imminent. Suggest immediate evacuation of the area."

"No way. Can the armor support that kind of weight in flight?" Iron Man asked.

"Calibrating. Crimson Dynamo's weight is well within armor's limits."

"Let's do it," Iron Man ordered as he flew underneath the Dynamo and began to lift it. At first it was difficult, but soon he managed to lift it into the sky and support the weight on his shoulders.

He carried the Crimson Dynamo with him high into the sky as he tried to get it as far away from the city as possible. He began to feel weak as the armor's power levels dropped.

"Sixty-five percent power remaining," the armor reported. "Crimson Dynamo destruction in five…four…three…two…"

The explosion rattled Iron Man inside his armor, and he fell back to Earth as a fiery hunk of metal. Inside the armor, Tony Stark was cooking.

"C'mon…reboot you stupid piece of–"

"Flight systems restored," the armor reported.

"Halleluiah!" the hero shouted and fired up the boot jets to maximum to slow his fall. He still crashed into the middle of Times Square, but he was still standing when the dust settled.

"Running armor diagnostic check now," the armor announced.

Iron Man checked his HUD, and saw the armor had green lights across the board still. He checked the damages to the armor's exterior. Minimal scratches, but no real damage had been done to the armor.

"What is this thing?"

* * *

"Sir, we've located the Mk VII," the soldier reported to the captain. "It appears to have fallen into the possession of a local Earth boy. Tony Stark. Interestingly, he seems capable of controlling the armor."

"He has the armor?" the captain asked.

"Yes sir. We intend to acquire it immediately, as we have already sent the scouts–" the soldier began, but was cut off by his captain.

"The scouts are no match for the Mk VII, even if it is in the hands of a human boy. No…get me the assassin. Tell him I have a job that requires his…skills."

The soldier smiled at the thought. "Yes sir!"

* * *

"There's hardly a scratch on it," Rhodey said as he inspected the armor. "Tony, what is this thing?"

"I don't know," Tony admitted. "I've been studying it every chance I get and I can honestly say this is the craziest thing I've ever seen. I'm starting to wonder if humans even built it."

"C'mon man. Aliens?" Rhodey asked in disbelief.

"What else?" Tony asked. "I've been going over the armor data banks with Jarvis–"

"Who's Jarvis?" Rhodey asked.

"The armor's onboard AI," Tony explained. "I sorta named him."

"You named him/it/whatever?" Rhodey asked.

"So what if I did?"

_Hey, it's Rhodey. Ever watched your best friend battle a bunch armor aliens bent on ripping armor off of his cold, dead corpse? No? That proves that only I have to deal with this! Tony's up to his eyes in Extremis alien scouts and I'm stuck dealing with this Whiplash character! Next time on Iron Man Galaxies: Working with Whiplash! Whoa! _

_**Ya yep 2 is up! Why will no one review this? C'mon people I live off reviews and mustard, so REVIEW if you read this! If you haven't noticed, Iron Man's fights cause lots of destruction. Anyway, review, next ep is next Sunday, blah blah blah. Iron Man rules!**_


	4. Working With Whiplash

Iron Man charged his repulsors as his four armored opponents closed in on him.

"The Extremis right?" Iron Man asked. "So what, here to exterminate the impurity that is mankind, enslave humans, destroy the planet in order to create some space short cut? Oh no wait! You're here to spread some sort of infection and turn us all into Extremis aliens just like you!"

"Return the Mk VII human!" one of the Extremis scouts ordered. "It belongs to the Extremis!"

"Seeing as how you're going to use it to hurt people," Iron Man reasoned, "I'm gonna have to say no."

The Extremis scouts open fired their wrist lasers, but Iron Man launched into the sky with his boot jets. The scouts soared into the sky after him, firing as they flew. Iron Man pulled a tight barrel roll followed by a loop, now flying straight for the scouts. His repulsors charged and fired, knocking two of the scouts to the ground.

The last two scouts looped back and flew away with Iron Man hot on their trail. The targeting systems locked on, and Iron Man fired, taking another one down. Just for the heck off it, Iron Man grabbed the body of the downed scout, and hurled it at the last scout. The two armors collided and exploded, leaving the Iron avenger victorious.

"Oh yeah!" Iron Man shouted. "Take that alien scum! Nobody can beat Iron Man!"

* * *

"And you want me to capture this…Iron Man?" Whiplash asked.

"Correct," the captain conformed. "You are to bring him to us, armor more or less intact. The payment as you know is quite high."

"I know the payment!" Whiplash barked. "So where do I start?"

"His current position is unknown, but we know he likes to play hero, and we know where his "friends" can be commonly found," the captain reported. "Manhattan West Academy. A place of learning for younger humans."

"This should be interesting," Whiplash said. "Send down a team of soldiers, not scouts. Draw him away from the school. I've got a plan."

* * *

"Can you believe it?" Pepper asked as they ate lunch. "They're calling Iron Man a menace! True he did destroy Times Square and he doesn't seem to operate under any chain of command and no one really knows who or what he is…"

"That doesn't mean he's a bad guy," Tony insisted. "Those people calling him a menace have no idea how hard it was to fight that thing without causing collateral damage."

"Right," Rhodey said. "And you know how hard it was how exactly?"

Tony wanted to smack himself for nearly blowing his secret. "I don't know it just…looked hard I guess."

"Uh-huh," Nick muttered, not impressed with Tony's lie. "What aren't you telling us Stark? What do you know about Iron Man?"

Tony found it hard not to be intimidated by the senior with the eye patch. It gave him the creeps.

"Nothing," Tony said with a straight face. "Other than he's a hero."

Nick looked out the window and almost casually said, "If he's such a hero, how come I don't see him out there helping with that fire in the city?"

"What?" Tony gasped, looking outside.

"Wow, that whole building's gonna come down," Pepper breathed.

"No it's not…" Tony muttered to himself. "I gotta go to the bathroom. The uh…school nachos go right through me and I think they put something in the cheese."

"Mild food poisoning no doubt," Nick suggested. "Always run your food through a chemical analysis before eating it Stark."

"Whatever!" Tony shouted as he ran to the bathroom. Tony opened his backpack and the helmet's eyes glowed blue. The armor assembled itself automatically around Tony in seconds, far faster than he could've done on his own.

"Welcome back sir," Jarvis greeted. "I trust there is something urgent requiring our attention?"

"You know it," Iron Man said as he dashed out of the school and took off into the sky. "Jarvis do we have any flame retardants onboard?"

"A minimal supply of oxygen depriving foam yes," Jarvis confirmed. "But if you're referring to extinguishing the fire I just picked up on the emergency frequency, you're foolish to think we can put it out."

"Jarvis, what did I say about reading my mind?" Iron Man asked as he hovered in front of the flames.

"Not reading your mind sir," Jarvis defended, "merely predicting your thoughts based on known knowledge of your thought patterns."

"Show off," Iron Man grumbled as he tried to figure out how to help.

He looked at his repulsors. It was a stretch but…

Iron Man aimed carefully, and fired his repulsors at a fine, wide spread frequency. The energy he gave off from his repulsors blew out the flames, but didn't structurally hurt the building. As he fired, he wasn't aware off the three Extremis soldiers flying toward him until their wrist lasers peppered his shields.

"Sir–"

"I see them!" Iron Man shouted, and took off, leaving what was left of the fire to the fire department.

Iron Man fired his repulsors at normal level, hitting a soldier in the chest. The soldiers struggled for a few minutes to remain in the air, then stabilized. Iron Man gritted his teeth now that he knew he was facing tougher opponents.

"Maybe I should be a little more hands on," Iron Man joked before flying straight at his pursuers. He punched one on the face and kicked another before dodging a laser blast from the third and countering with his repulsors.

One of the soldiers flew forward, tackling Iron Man onto the roof of another nearby building. Iron Man shrugged him off and kicked him over the side of the skyscraper, and started firing his repulsors at the other two.

They dodged expertly as they flew toward him, and Iron Man shot up into the sky to avoid being tackled again. Laser blast followed him as he flew away, some glancing off his shields, but most just missing and hitting skyscrapers instead. Iron Man turned and blasted his right repulsor, scoring a hit to a soldier's power core. The soldiers shields held briefly before giving out and letting the repulsor hit the power core, blowing the soldier to smithereens.

With one opponent left, Tony turned back around and flew off even faster, goading the last Extremis to follow.

"Sir, I recommend you stay below speeds of Mach 3. Extremis Mk V battle armor isn't designed to achieve higher speeds. However, if running away is your strategy, I suggest accelerating to the approximate speed of–"

"We're not running Jarvis," Iron Man assured. "Just waiting for an opening."

The Extremis started firing his wrist laser. "That would be my opening."

Iron Man slammed on the air brakes and diverted as much power to the shields as possible. The Extremis, who had been focused on firing, didn't stop flying fast enough, and crashed into Iron Man. The two armored figures fell from the sky, crashing into the ground and leaving a massive crater that was going to back up traffic for a week.

Iron Man stood up, but his opponent didn't.

"See you around suckers," Iron Man said before leaving back to school.

* * *

Whiplash stood outside the school's cafeteria. According to his armor's sensors, the human children were still consuming nutrients. And what was that? A mild food poisoning was found in some of the cups of nacho cheese.

Whiplash extended one of his energy whips from his right had and swung it, cutting through the wall like butter. Another swing, crossing with the first slash in a perfect X. With a powerful crack of the whip to the center of the X, the wall imploded, leaving a good sized whole for Whiplash to walk through.

The various humans screamed and ran for cover at the sight of the black and red armored figure. Whiplash smiled and cracked his whip, cutting a table in half.

"Where is Iron Man?" Whiplash demanded, and the energy faded from his whip, leaving a still very dangerous metal cable.

Whiplash cracked the whip forward, and it wrapped around the neck of Pepper Potts. She struggled in vain to get it off her neck, but Whiplash snapped hard, giving her a nasty cut on her collar bone. Rhodey ran forward to help her, but another depowered whip shot out of Whiplash's other hand wrapping around Rhodey. The whips lifted the two teens into the air as they continued to struggle in vain.

"I won't ask again," Whiplash warned as energy sparked at the base of the whips. "Where…is…Iron–"

Whiplash was cut off when two repulsor blasts hit his wrists, severing the whips and freeing Rhodey and Pepper.

"Iron Man!" Pepper cried at the sight of her knight in shining armor.

"Pepper we have to get out of here!" Rhodey shouted.

"But–"

"Move!"

Pepper grudgingly obeyed, and the two took off running. But she had decided too late. Whiplash fired off a length of cord, which wrapped around Pepper's ankles and caused her to trip.

Whiplash extended two new whips, now crackling with energy. Iron Man charged his repulsors.

"So you're Iron Man," Whiplash said, unimpressed. "I figured someone who could cause the Extremis so much trouble would be a little more…impressive."

"And I was hoping for an Extremis goon who would be a little less ugly," Iron Man shot back. "Seriously how can you guys make something as ugly as that, and then come up with something as sweet as this?"

"I can't let you keep that armor," Whiplash informed.

"That's too bad," Iron Man said. "Because if you want this armor, you're going to have to rip it off my cold, dead corpse."

"Gladly."

Both whips shot forward, wrapping around Iron Man and straining his shields. As the red energy crackled across the armor, the usually invisible shields shone blue, creating dazzling red, blue, and purple effects.

Iron Man struggled to remain standing as the energy tore into him.

"Shields at forty-three percent and falling. User intervention required."

"Working…on it," Iron Man grumbled.

Iron Man wrapped his arms around the whips and gave them a good snap. The whips were ripped off his body, and the backlash smacked Whiplash in the face, causing his own shields to dance.

"That all you got?" Iron Man asked weakly.

The assassin attacked with his whips again, cracking the left one to hit Iron Man in the ribs, and wrapping the second one around his neck. Whiplash swung the whip up and over his head before bringing it, and the super hero attached to it, down hard to the ground. Iron Man ripped the whip off of his neck and aimed his repulsors, but an expert whip crack sliced into the repulsors, causing them to back fire.

Iron Man stumbled back, dazed by his own weapons. Whiplash cracked both his whips, which struck Iron Man in the chest and sent him flying.

When Iron Man finally crashed in the middle of the highway, Jarvis spoke.

"Shields at fifteen percent, recovery in ten seconds."

"We haven't got that much time," Iron Man grumbled as he saw Whiplash streaking through the sky toward him.

Iron Man fired off his repulsors, but the Extremis assassin dodged and lashed out with his weapons. They wrapped around Iron Man's arms, crackling against his dying shields.

"Give up human," Whiplash laughed. "I am Whiplash. I have bested warriors far greater than you."

Iron Man struggled to focus against the pain he felt even through the armor. He charged the unibeam in his chest, waiting to fire. Whiplash tugged on the whips, pulling Iron Man forward like a dog on a leash. Another tug, and he was pulled closer. With a final tug, Whiplash pulled Iron Man within striking distance. Iron Man rose and aimed the unibeam. The blast shot out, hitting Whiplash in the face and penetrating the villain's shields with ease.

Whiplash flew backward, his whips ripped off as he flew. Iron Man shrugged off the dead whips and cautiously approached the assassin. The Extremis groaned and tried to stand, but fell.

"Tell your bosses that if they came to Earth for a fight, they've got one. And that if they're smart they'll back off of me and Earth."

Iron Man started to walk away, but was stopped by an evil, tortured laugh from Whiplash.

"You don't know who you've challenged boy," Whiplash laughed. "The Extremis have laid waste to civilizations! All who oppose them are converted or destroyed. We are the single most powerful force in the galaxy! Who are you?"

"The human who just figured out how to shut you up," Iron Man said, and fired his repulsor in a continuous stream at the glowing power core in Whiplash's chest. The energy of the repulsor poured into the core, until finally…

BOOOM!

Iron Man walked away from the smoking fireball that was once Whiplash. He figured that beating Whiplash would send a clear message to the Extremis: Back off.

* * *

Back at the school, Tony saw a mess. Police cars surrounded the area, and parents were coming to pick up their children for the day. Rhodey and Pepper were both still there though.

"Tony!" Pepper shouted when she saw him. She threw her arms around him in a hug, and Tony did his best to remember how to breathe.

"You're okay! That whip guy showed up and none of us could find you…where were you?" Pepper asked, suddenly curious.

"I…I was…" Tony looked to Rhodey, who was shaking his head as if to say, _No! don't tell her! Don't tell her!_

"I was hiding," Tony lied. "I guess I'm not that brave."

Pepper gave him a look that Tony knew meant she didn't believe him, but she also had no clue what else to believe.

* * *

"Let me see if I got this right," Rhodey said. "There's an alien race called the Extremis plotting to invade Earth."

"Yup," Tony confirmed.

"They've conquered all kinds of planets before us."

"Uh-huh."

"You somehow acquired their latest and greatest armor."

"The Mk VII I'm told."

"They want it back, and now you're the only one who stands a chance against them."

"Technically, if anyone was to put on both the tech interface suit and the armor, they could go off an be Iron Man too. But as you know that's not happening."

"Right," Rhodey said. "You talked to Pepper since yesterday?"

"No, why?" Tony asked.

Rhodey showed Tony his computer screen. It read: _Iron Man's True Identity by Pepper Potts._

"Oh crud," Tony groaned.

* * *

"_Tell your bosses that if they came to Earth for a fight, they've got one."_

The captain played portion of the helmet recording back over and over. So the little human boy wanted a fight? The captain knew just what kind of a fight to give him.

"Get me Arcade," the captain ordered.

_Greetings, I am Jarvis, Mr. Stark's personal aide in battle. When we are captured by Extremis stealth units, Mr. Stark and I are forced to fight in gladiator pits for the amusement of a twisted Extremis man called Arcade. In addition to these threats, the only way out of the gladiator pits is through the treacherous Murderworld. Next time on Iron Man Galaxies: Madness in Murderworld Part 1. Incoming assault!_

_**ANNOUNCEMENT: The greatest Iron Man story is now on a new day: Friday. Catch the next episode Friday, August 20.**_

_**If you haven't noticed, Nick is a teenaged, conspiracy obsessed version of Nick Fury. Is he an actual agent of SHIELD? We may find out soon. Poor Tony, can't tell the girl he "secretly" likes about his double life. Anyway, REVIEW! Oh and if you have an idea for an episode I'd love to hear it, because season two has a lot of empty slots and there are still a few spots open in season one.**_


	5. Madness in Murderworld Part 1

Tony stared at the computer screen and groaned again. Pepper had put up a website. A _website_. She'd gone and listed every plausible identity for Iron Man, and listed the reasons why the person in question was likely to be Iron Man.

Some of the suggestions were ridiculous. Peter Parker? That nerd could never be Iron Man, he runs away at the first sign of danger, and sometimes even before the first sign. Gene Khan, the Chinese astronaut? He'd disappeared in space years ago. T'challa? He'd been a student last year, and he seemed like the hero type, but he was back in Wakanda doing who knows what.

But, at the top of the list, with more reasons than any other person on the list, was Tony Stark. Tony slammed his head on the desk. That wasn't all. Pepper had put a poll up so site viewers could vote for who they thought was Iron Man. Tony must've voted for Parker a billion times, but Tony Stark was still voted most likely to be Iron Man by the public.

"Pepper's not an idiot man," Rhodey said. "She was going to find out soon enough."

"But did she have to tell the world? They don't even know for sure yet and already everybody thinks I'm Iron Man. Once they get some hard evidence? I'm doomed."

"True," Rhodey agreed. "But until then, you have a life still. Which brings up the question, who are you taking to the dance?"

"The dance?" Tony asked.

"Yes, the dance," Rhodey said slowly, as if he were talking to an idiot. "The one our school has every year, and the one you always get like five dates for."

"Oh, that dance," Tony said idly. "Eh, I don't know. Who are you asking?"

Rhodey coughed. "I was…kinda thinking of asking Whitney…"

"HA!" Tony fake laughed. "Really man, how long have you been staring at her behind her back? You'll ask her out when I–"

"Ask out Pepper?" Rhodey put in.

"Hey! That's not fair," Tony said. "Pepper and I are good friends–"

"Because you, the ladies man of the planet, refuses to ask out the girl he stares at."

"I stare at a lot of girls," Tony dodged.

"Uh-huh. But you drool with Pepper," Rhodey said.

"I do not!"

"Don't worry," Arcade assured the captain. "Iron Man is as good as dead!"

Arcade laughed like an idiot as he tossed his various pictures of Iron Man into the sky. Sending Iron Man to Murderworld would be insufficient. No, Iron Man was such a crowd pleaser; he deserved to be put in the big leagues. That's right; Arcade was sending Iron Man to the gladiator pits. But first, a little motivation…

Tony and his classmates were watching a live television presentation about sand on the class TV when the picture changed.

_"We're coming to you live from New York, NY where a comet is hurtling toward the city. Experts are unable to pinpoint where exactly it will crash, but civilians are urged to evacuate to somewhere safely immediately. Oh my– It's picking up speed! It's headed right for–"_

Tony didn't hear the rest, because the side of the classroom exploded with a cold burst of wind, and everybody hit the dirt.

Tony heard the armor come online inside his backpack.

"Extremis armor detected," Jarvis reported from inside the pack.

"Shut up!" Tony hissed at his backpack.

Tony looked to the whole in the wall. A small comet had crashed through the wall. Inside though, Tony could just make out a humanoid shape.

"Why now?" Tony asked.

The comet exploded, sending ice flying in every direction. A white armored figure rose from the ice, the glowing chest orb lighting the otherwise dark class. The armor was mostly white, but it had blue trim down the arms, legs, and face. The figured scanned the room, its gaze finally fixing on Tony. The young superhero gulped.

"Hello, Iron Man," the Extremis being greeted.

All the students looked at Tony, mouths open.

"What are you talking about?" Tony lied.

The figure raised his arm, the glowing disc in his palm glowing even brighter. He fired, and a beam of blue energy shot forward. Tony waited for the impact, but it never came. Instead Rhodey had taken the blast, and was now covered in a thin layer of frost. He shivered and curled into a ball.

"Rhodey!" Tony shouted. "I know you want to be as cool as me but this isn't the way to do it!"

"Who are you, and what do you want?" Tony demanded.

"Call me Blizzard," Blizzard said. "And right now Iron Man, I want you to come with me, or I'll freeze everyone in this room."

Someone ran for the door, but an ice blast from Blizzard froze the door shut…and also froze the kid's hand to the handle.

"I'm not Iron Man!" Tony insisted.

Blizzard aimed his ice beam at Rhodey's shivering form. "Sure about that?"

All eyes were on Tony, who reluctantly opened his backpack. The armor leapt out and assembled itself around Tony. The faceplate slid down, and the eyes lit up.

"I take it you want the armor now?" Iron Man asked.

"Not exactly," Blizzard said, and fired an ice blast at Iron Man.

Iron Man woke up with a start. His hands flew to his face, and sure enough, he had the armor on. He rubbed his armored head.

"Ugh. What happened?" Iron Man asked groggily.

"Accessing recent memory banks," Jarvis reported.

Suddenly, Tony was watching the helmet recording of what had happened. The city was streaking by, and Tony could hear the armor's thrusters in the background. That's when there was a flash, and the last thing Tony saw before the image went to static was a man strapped to a jetpack, wearing Extremis armor gauntlets and a weird wire helmet.

"The thief awakens," a voice said. Tony spun around in the darkness and activated his armor's night vision. Tony saw the same man from the video.

"Greetings Iron Man," the man said. "I am Controller, head of Extremis psych ops onboard the _Darkwing_."

"The what?" Iron Man asked.

"The Extremis battleship currently in orbit over your planet human," Controller rasped. "I must say, your connection to the armor is impressive. My Extremis amplifier couldn't override your own control. I was however able to induce a quick deep dream state to get you out here."

"Deep dream?" Iron Man asked, confused. "You mean that ice man in class–"

"Never happened," Controller assured. "Your friends are safe. Your secret is intact."

"Um…thanks?" Iron Man said, confused.

"Don't thank me just yet," Controller laughed. "I'd like to welcome you to the _Slaughter House_, personal space station of Arcade. Nestled on the dark side of your moon."

"Why was I brought here?" Iron Man asked.

"For the entertainment of Extremis Empire!" an excited voice shouted over a loud speaker. "That's right folks! Arcade the Amazing has found a fabulous new contender! Hailing from the planet Earth and sporting a stolen Mk VII proto type, here he is! The one, the only, IRON MAN!"

The walls of Iron Man's tiny cell collapsed, and the night vision was rendered useless as light flooded Iron Man's vision. He was in a large stadium not unlike the Roman Coliseum. Thousands of people were seated, and in truth o a lot of them looked like ordinary humans. But so did Controller and Jarvis's scan confirmed he was an Extremis.

"Underneath the armor, they're just like us," Iron Man mused.

"And his opponent!" Arcade announced. "The Cold Kick Ass! The Icy Intimidator! The Whiteout Wonder! Blizzard!"

The white armored Extremis Iron Man had seen in his dream entered the arena, arms raised as he got the crowd to cheer louder.

"Gladiators!" the announcer shouted. "Prepare…for battle!"

The crowd cheered again, anxious to see some violence.

"What are the rules exactly?" Iron Man asked.

"Rules?" Arcade laughed. "Ha! That's cute kid. But seriously, FIGHT!"

Blizzard fired an ice blast before Iron Man could blink. The joints of the armor started to go stiff, but a quick jolt of power to the shields and the ice melted away. Blizzard formed a large snow ball in his hand before tossing it into the air. It exploded, and a snow storm was now swirling around the arena. Iron Man's visibility was cut down sharply. He tried to get a fix on Blizzard, who was controlling the storm, but the storm was messing up his optics.

"Jarvis, switch to infrared vision, his armor has to give off some heat!" Iron Man ordered.

His vision changed, and Iron Man saw a vague humanoid shaped hot spot amidst the cold. He fired, scoring a direct hit. The storm died down, and Iron Man switched to normal vision.

"Would you look at that folks? Nothing gets past this human!" Arcade said.

Iron Man fired his repulsors at Blizzard repeatedly, but his icy opponent dodged and fired an ice beam, freezing Iron Man's feet to the ground.

"Ha!" Arcade laughed. "Even worse than tying shoelaces together!"

Iron Man revved his boot jets, blasting the ice off. Blizzard cursed and hurled an orb of white energy. It struck Iron Man in the chest, and he fell to the floor like a rock. The ice spread from the point of impact, quickly covering the shield generators on his chest, arms, and hips.

"Ooh. Iron Ice Pops! I like mine negative forty!" Arcade joked.

"Shields offline," Jarvis reported. "Armor temperature dropping. Sir that ice needs to come off."

"No…duh," Iron Man shivered. He started scraping his chest to free the triangular chest power core and unibeam. It was also the primary shield generator of the armor. Once the ice was thin enough on his chest, Iron Man fired the unibeam, blasting the ice off. From there the shields came back online, melting the ice

Iron Man set his sights on Blizzard and charged his repulsors. Then he thought better of it and fired his unibeam at Blizzard. The powerful blast overloaded Blizzard's shields in seconds, and still had enough punch left to slam Blizzard through the arena wall.

"Oh! See what you get for deep freezing a human?" Arcade cackled as the referee flew down to check on Blizzard. He crossed his arms in an X.

"And he's down!" Arcade shouted. "The human has won! ...Dammit."

The crowd went nuts. A chant soon rose up.

"IRON MAN! IRON MAN! IRON MAN!"

Iron Man threw his arms up, and the crowd roared even louder.

"Oh yeah! What now?" Iron Man shouted.

"And Iron Man advances to the next round!" Arcade announced.

"Yeah! Yea– Wait. NEXT ROUND?" Iron Man shouted.

"Of course, welcome to the _Slaughter House_'s new millennia fighting tournament!" Arcade said. "You'll be competing against the best of the best, for fame, fortune, and of course your life!"

"My what?" Iron Man asked.

"Your life! The winner of the tournament gets to live, and is even given a shot at escape. The losers…get disintegrated by an eighty-five caliber particle beam!"

"Oh," Iron Man choked. "I get it."

"Alright, all competitors take five," Arcade said.

Iron Man followed a crowd of armored warriors to the break room. Iron Man grabbed a food tray and got in line, but all they had was a weird shiny goop that looked like mercury. Iron Man poked at it with his eating utensil. He couldn't decide if it was a spoon, knife, fork, or spear. The goop quivered like Jell-O, and Iron Man looked over at the girl who had taken off her helmet to eat.

"Want seconds?" Iron Man asked.

"You'd better eat," she said. "You'll need your strength if you're advancing to the next round. From what I hear, they're pitting you against Jolt."

"Jolt?" Iron Man asked.

"She's a tough fighter, and her armor's been rigged with more ARC lasers than an attack ship. Her shields feed off of energy, making energy weapons useless against her," the girl explained.

"Any weaknesses?" Iron Man asked. He also thought about asking what an ARC laser was, but he decided against it.

"None that I would tell you," she said, and with a point of her finger gave him a quick zap of electricity his shields flashed, but nothing serious happened.

Iron Man caught on. "Jolt, I presume."

"The one and only," Jolt said with a proud smile. "And you must be this Iron Man everyone is talking about."

"Really?" Iron Man asked, smiling behind the faceplate.

Jolt shrugged. "Not everyday a human cuts Blizzard's ego down to size. You did well."

"Thanks," Iron Man said. "Anything normal to drink in this place. Like water?"

Jolt looked at Iron Man like he was crazy. "Over by the fountain. They've got everything there, even that poison."

"You have something against water?" Iron Man asked.

"Before I was infected," Jolt said, "I was an electrosapien. We don't like water."

"Infected?" Iron Man asked.

"That's how the Extremis spread," Jolt explained. "They capture the masses and inject them with the Extremis virus, and it turns the host being into an Extremis. Or it kills them."

"Just like that. And you're a total Extremis once it happens?" Iron Man asked.

"Not exactly," Jolt said. "Species still retain certain traits. It creates variation in the Extremis race. Some beings even have a natural resistance to the virus, resulting in hybrids."

"Hybrids?"

Jolt nodded. "Mixes of Extremis and the infected being's species. They possess all of the technical abilities of an Extremis, but remain a member of their own species."

"What abilities do the Extremis have?" Iron Man asked.

"We can link to technology with a thought, and control it," Jolt said. "It's how we control our armors. And yet, you seem to have replicated this ability in your clothing. Interesting."

Iron Man's faceplate slid back to let him drink. He took a sip of his water.

"Well I'm an interesting guy," Iron Man said.

"I'll bet," Jolt said with a smile. "See you in the ring tiger."

"Huh? Oh right," Iron Man said as his faceplate shut again. "See you."

Jolt walked off, helmet tucked under one arm. As he looked around, he saw a lot of fighters hanging out, relaxing, and enjoying life, even if they may only have it a little longer. He made up his mind. He wasn't going to let them die. They were _all _getting out of here.

The alarm rang, and everybody returned to the various fighting rings. The one stadium held multiple fighting rings, so it was like an eight ring circus of ass kicking.

"Next up! The Iron Avenger, the Halfwit Human, the Knight in Shining Armor, the Invincible Iron Man!" Arcade announced, sending the crowd into uproar.

Iron Man walked out, the lights of the stadium gleaming against his armor. He pumped his fist in the air, getting more cheers from the crowd.

"And his opponent!" Arcade shouted. "The Lady of the Lightning, the Shocking Sugar girl, the Electric Assassin, Jolt!"

Jolt back flipped into the ring before sending a crackling cloud of lightning into the air. This got a lot of cheers from the crowds.

"Show off," Iron Man muttered.

"As if you're any better," Jarvis said dryly.

"Shut up."

"Ready…FIGHT!" Arcade called.

Jolt fired twin bolts from her hands, but Iron Man had already taken to the air to avoid her blasts. She fired again and again, but kept missing. Iron Man fired both his repulsors, but the blasts hit the ground on either side of Jolt.

"Will somebody land a hit already?" Arcade laughed nervously. If someone didn't get beaten to a pulp soon, ratings would plummet.

Jolt fired a cloud of lightning, covering Iron Man and wreaking havoc on his shields. Iron Man struggled against the tendrils of electricity, but soon fell to the ground with a crash. Jolt intensified her assault, but Iron Man kicked out, hitting her in the chest. She stumbled back, the electric tendrils gone.

Iron Man spun and punched Jolt across the face, and she flew backward. Jolt fired her armor's unibeam, and Iron Man went flying. He didn't get back up.

"Owch!" Looks like he can't keep up with the Princess of Power!" Arcade said.

Iron Man's armor roared to life, and he punched the wall down and raced into the next ring.

"What the? He's not supposed to do that!" Arcade cried.

"Everybody!" Iron Man shouted. "It's time to stop fighting. We're getting out of here!"

"What's he talking about?" Arcade asked.

"Show's over Arcade!" Another fighter, Spider-Man (Who wasn't wearing armor, just some ridiculous red and blue spandex.).

"I was gonna say that…" Iron Man whined.

"You think you can all just walk away like that?" Arcade said, laughing nervously.

"Who's going to stop us?" Iron Man asked.

Behind him, the fiercest fighters from across the Extremis Empire readied their weapons and took fighting stances. Everyone heard Arcade gulp over the loud speakers.

"Mother..." he whimpered. "Yes, well, the exit is right through there."

Two large doors swung open, and the fighters ran through them. The doors shut behind them and locked, plunging them into total darkness.

"Did we really just fall for that?" Iron Man asked.

"Not to worry!" Arcade shouted. "The exit really is through here, at the far side of Murderworld! AHAHAHA!"

"Murderworld? Why do I get the feeling we're not going to be surrounded by lonely supermodels and teddy bears?" Spider-Man asked.

The lights came on, revealing they were all in some kind of carnival funhouse. But there is nothing "fun" about murderous robots with energy saws for hands advancing on you.

"Oh my goodness," Iron Man said.

_What's up? Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man here, and I'm about to die. Honestly, worst week of my life. One second, I'm swinging through the city and all is fine. Next thing I know I'm in some gladiator pit fighting for my life. Now I'm following a guy named Iron Man and some Jolt chick through a carnival of death in a fruitless attempt to get home! Next time on Iron Man Galaxies: Madness in Murderworld Part 2. Argh! Damn you Arcade! _

_**Longest episode yet! They'll slowly get longer too, so be prepared for that. Anyway, Spider-Man is the show's first ever guest star! Spidey fans celebrate! So yeah, review, otherwise the network will shut us down, and then the tiki gods would win…Sorry that's the REVIEW DEPRIVATION talking. You know what the cure is? REVIEWS! So REVIEW! **_


	6. Madness in Murderworld Part 2

Spider-Man webbed another robot in the face and kicked it into a wall before yanking another robot's buzz saw arm off and using it to slice up more robots. Iron Man fired his repulsors, blasting two robots to bits. Jolt dodged a missile fired her way and returning fire with a crackle of electricity.

"I love smashing robots as much as the next guy, but can we please get out of here?" Spider-Man yelled.

"Working on it," Iron Man told him. "Jarvis, have you found the way out yet?"

"The nearest exit is currently sealed off by that forcefield," Jarvis told him.

"Anyway to shut it down?" Iron Man asked.

"The power coupling for the forcefield is exposed at the top of that carnival game," Jarvis reported.

Iron Man stole a quick glance at a test your strength machine, and at the top of it was the power coupling.

"Typical," Iron Man said. He fired a repulsor blast at the coupling, but it too was shielded.

"Ah, ah, ah," Arcades voice came over the speakers. "No cheating."

Spider-Man webbed tow robots together and swung past Iron Man to the test your strength machine. He landed in front of it, jumped up, and slammed both of his fists into the machined. The meter shot up to the top and hit the power coupling, smashing it to bits.

"Knew those hours at the gym would pay off," he joked.

The forcefield blocking the exit shut off, and the three of them ran out. Once outside, they were temporarily blinded by the flashing lights and neon signs. When their eyes–or armor optics–adjusted, they saw they were standing at the bottom of a massive pinball machine.

"This guy has issues," Spider-Man said.

"I agree," Jolt nodded.

Using his helmet's optics, Iron Man zoomed in on the exit at the top of the machine. Unfortunately, standing in the way were electric bumpers, explosive score multipliers, laser turrets, flying Extremis soldiers, and flaming pin balls that bounced back and forth across the board.

"Race you guys to the top," Iron Man said as he fired his boot jets and launched himself skyward.

A flaming pinball bounced his way, and he noticed too late. The ball hit him dead on, and his shields briefly dropped to ninety-one percent. Before his shields could recover, Iron Man was smacked out of the air by and electric bumper, causing him to careen out of control and his shields to drop further. He would've crashed into an explosive score multiplier, but another force caught him and helped him steady himself.

"New to this flying thing tiger?" Jolt asked. "Watch and learn."

Jolt flew forward barrel rolling to avoid laser blasts. One Extremis soldier flew in, about to blast her from behind. Somehow she saw it coming and spun around in time to fire first. The Extremis' shields flashed before overloading and causing the armor to explode.

Iron Man shot forward after her, using a unique combination of fancy flying and dumb luck to take weave his way through the enemy. Watching his back was Spider-Man, who darted back and forth with ease using his web lines.

Iron Man and Jolt were soon flying side by side through the giant pinball machine, with Spider-Man right behind them. Iron Man fired his repulsors, taking out two turrets. The three continued on to the exit, but were all slapped away from it by an electric bumper.

Spider-Man stuck to the nearest surface, preventing his fall. "Those things are getting really annoying."

"It's just a bumper, how much trouble could it be?" Iron Man asked as he hovered just out of its reach.

He fired his repulsors, hoping to destroy the thing, but instead the blast bounced off the bumper and back at Iron Man. His shields flashed and he wobbled for a second, but otherwise he was fine. The bumper groaned and retreated into the machine. The entire pinball machine started morphing and changing.

"Exit! Now!" Iron Man ordered.

"Don't have to tell me twice!" Spider-Man yelled over the grinding of machinery.

The three jumped out of the exit, and suddenly found themselves floating around in an endless black void. Spider-Man clutched his throat with one hand while he smacked the spider emblem on his chest with the other.

"Jarvis what's wrong with him?" Iron Man asked, his voice inaudible to the others due to the silence of space.

"It would appear Spider-Man's costume is not made for extended work in outer space. His suit has been temporarily sealed and emergency electronic pulses are keeping him warm, but I calculate he has five minutes to live," Jarvis said in his normal monotone.

Iron Man opened a communication link between his armor and Jolt's. "Jolt, Spidey's in trouble. We need to get him inside now!"

"I hear you tiger, but right now his only option is to go back inside Murderworld, and I'm not sure how safe that is at the moment," Jolt replied.

Iron Man looked back at the structure they'd escaped, only to see it had transformed into a hundred-foot tall, carnival colored robot modeled in Arcade's likeness.

"So, you thought you could just walk away huh?" Arcade's voice asked over a communication link. "Well I've got news for you kids. You can leave Murderworld, but it won't leave you!"

"Coward!" Jolt shouted. "Stop hiding behind your machines! Get in your armor and face us yourself!"

"Jolt…that _is _his armor. He controls Murderworld like an extension of his body!" Iron Man yelled.

"Very clever Iron Man!" Arcade laughed. "But clever doesn't do you any good in a fight! It's all about strength baby."

"Yeah, yeah," Iron Man groaned. "Save it for your untimely defeat."

Jolt fired every one of her arc lasers at Arcade, but they did nothing against his shields. She kept the pressure on, but still got nowhere. Arcade's giant armor raised its right arm and fired a stream of flaming pin balls, hitting Jolt and taking a good chunk out of her shields.

"Jolt!" Iron Man yelled as he grabbed Spider-Man's floating form and flew toward her.

"I…I'm okay I think. We need to get Spider inside Murderworld, and you too. The only way to take this thing down is from the inside," Jolt told them.

"What about you?" Iron Man asked.

"I'll keep him distracted," Jolt said. "Go hurry!"

Iron Man didn't want to leave Jolt alone against Arcade, but he also didn't want Spider-Man to die from his indecision, so he flew them straight for Arcade's neck, crashing through the armor plating and into the inner workings of the armor. There was thankfully some air inside, but it was quickly being sucked out until Arcade's shields went to work, sealing the hole in the neck. It also trapped Spidey and Shellhead inside Arcade's massive armor, with no way to go back out to help Jolt.

"We need to get to the control center," Iron Man said. "That's probably in the head, above us."

Spider-Man nodded. "You go to the head, I'll go take out the weapons in the arms."

"If we split up they'll just take us all out," Iron Man told him.

"And if those weapons stay online, Jolt's as good as dead," Spider-Man said. "Just go. Besides, saving the ladies is what I do best."

Spider-Man swung jumped onto a nerve cable and crawled along it, headed for the right arm. Iron Man sighed and followed the large cluster of nerve cables upward into the head.

"Alright, take out the weapons, save the girl, don't die." Spider-Man repeated to himself. "Take out the weapons, save the girl, don't–" he was cut off when an Extremis soldier flew in front of him, wrist lasers charged and ready to fire.

"Die!"

* * *

Iron Man busted through the floor of the control room, and the automated defense turrets open fired. While the lasers slowly whittled down his shields, Iron Man counter attacked mush quicker. Three repulsor blasts later, the turrets were destroyed. Arcade cowered in fear at the front of the control room, and Iron Man charged the unibeam.

He fired, but and energy shield rose up fast enough to block the powerful blast. Arcade laughed.

"It's not gonna be that easy Shellhead. Get ready to die!"

Iron Man flew into the air to avoid the laser Gatling fire that came from two armored turrets on the walls. He barrel rolled, narrowly avoiding another river of laser fire. As he flew, he charged the unibeam again, prepping his counter attack. When the weapon was charged, he hovered just long enough to fire. It destroyed the first turret, but also gave the second enough time to bring his shields down to fifty-two percent.

Iron Man sent the armor into a steep dive to avoid taking anymore damage, and just like that he was on the run again. He flew at top speed straight for the wall of the control room before veering hard to the right and letting the laser fire tear into the machinery lining the walls instead.

Arcade clutched his head and yelled in pain. Iron Man smiled under his helmet fired his repulsors while he flew, damaging more equipment. Arcade roared in agony and fell to his knees behind the shield.

"Ready to give up?" Iron Man asked as he fired his unibeam, destroying the other turret.

"Sir, your excessive use of the unibeam is having an adverse affect on power levels. We've reached fifty percent," Jarvis warned.

"You think you can win?" Arcade snarled as he slowly stood up. "You can't touch me as long as the shield's up, which leaves me free to do this."

Outside, Jolt was flying at full speed while trying to shake the missiles that had locked onto her. She turned, batted one aside, and clenched the other in her fist. It exploded and damaged her shields, but she lived.

That's when Arcade raised his massive left arm and charged three separate particle beams. They all fired, combining to form a single, ultimate particle beam that was aimed directly at Jolt.

Her eyes widened underneath her helmet and she flew off, the beam chasing after her. The weapon began to overheat, and it stopped firing, but not before clipping Jolt's leg and overloading her shields.

She floated in space, defenseless. Well, not entirely. She routed as much power as she could into her weapons and unleashed electric hell on Arcade's shields, bringing them down to thirty-five percent.

"You're girlfriend has a lot of fight in her," Arcade complimented. "Too bad I'm going to have to blast her to bits."

"No!" Iron Man shouted. "Jolt can you hear me?"

"I'm still here," Jolt assured. "Just hurry tiger. Not sure…how much longer I can last."

Iron Man flew forward, slamming his fist against the shield that protect Arcade form Iron Man. He punched it again and again, but to no effect. Arcade laughed.

* * *

Spider-Man crashed against the coolant lines of the particle cannon inside the left arm. He'd already taken out the flaming pinball launcher, but he'd also taken a beating from the Extremis guards inside this giant armor.

"Give up insect," the guard ordered.

"For the last time…" Spider-Man panted.

He jumped into the air and punched the guard hard across the metal faceplate, actually cracking the armor from the force of the blow.

"Spiders…" he kicked the guard in the abdomen. "are…" he caught the guard with a web line, letting it go taught. "ARACHNIDS!" he shouted as he yanked, sending the guard crashing through the coolant lines. The Extremis guard was frozen instantly, armor and all.

"Stay cool," the wall crawler joked.

* * *

Back in the control room, Iron Man was pouring everything he had into his repulsors, firing them continuously at Arcade's shield. The shield was glowing brightly under the strain, threatening to overload.

"Tisk, tisk, tisk Iron Man," Arcade ridiculed. "You're only wasting your time. And I can still do this."

Outside, Jolt was swatted into a crazed spin by Arcade's massive hand before his particle beam powered up again. But with broken coolant lines, the weapon exploded, and Jolt's figure took the full force of the explosion.

"Jolt!" Iron Man screamed as he lost sight of his friend. "Jolt can you hear me? Jolt!"

"Hey tiger…" Jolt's voice was weak and strained, yet peaceful in a way. "You know…the stars look really beautiful from out here. Kinda…kinda gives you hope. Make you think everything will…will be okay."

"Everything will be okay Jolt," Iron Man promised. "Hang on I'm coming to get you."

"No…it's too late. T-take care of yourself tiger. Kill a couple of Extremis for me," she said, her voice getting fainter with each word.

"Jolt stay with me," Iron Man begged.

No response.

"Jolt…"

Jolt's communication link was painfully silent.

"Jolt!"

Underneath his faceplate, hot tears of anger ran down Iron Man's face. "ARCADE!" He punched the shield again, harder than he ever had before. The shields flashed with blinding brilliance. He punched again, overloading the shields.

Arcade stumbled back in shock, and soon found Iron Man's metal hadn around his throat. He choked, his legs twitching slightly.

"I'll break you in two," Iron Man promised. "I'll break one bone in your body for every life you've ruined. Starting with this one…"

Iron Man suddenly couldn't move his arm, or any part of his armor for that matter. Unwillingly, he released his grip on Arcade's throat. The crazed Extremis man stepped back, rubbing his throat.

"I use Extremis amplifiers to allow me to control a massive facility like this, but I can just as easily use it to override your control over your own armor," Arcade explained. "I have total control now. Let's fix your power levels shall we?"

The unibeam fired without Iron Man's consent, and went into continuous fire mode, causing power levels to drop rapidly. At fifteen percent, warning lights started to flash across the HUD.

"Jarvis, how much control do you have over the armor?" Iron Man asked.

"Not much sir. I can't even shut it down."

"Can you get me out of it?" Iron Man asked.

Jarvis calculated for a bit. "Yes, but only briefly."

"That's all I need," Iron Man promised.

The armor opened up, and Tony Stark jumped out before it resealed itself. The unibeam stopped, and Arcade slowly back away from and angry Tony.

"Pretty smart kid, but you've just given me my own armored bodyguard," Arcade laughed.

The armor turned toward Tony, and he gulped. It flew forward, and Tony dove to avoid its charge. It came around again, this time firing its repulsors as it came. Tony dodged the first one, but the second hit him in the chest and sent him skidding into Arcade's waiting kick.

"Face it, you've lost," Arcade smirked.

Tony jumped up and ran to the nearest Extremis amplifier on the wall. The armor fired off a repulsor blast after him, but Tony dodged, and the blast tore into the machinery lining the wall instead.

Arcade fell to his knees again, veins bulging in pain and stress. Tony jumped forward, and the armor rushed up to meet him from behind. It did not attack however, instead it reformed itself over Tony, and by the time he landed he was Iron Man once again.

With one punch, Iron Man sent Arcade flying across the room, and he slumped to the floor. A quick scan showed he wasn't unconscious.

"Alright Jarvis, how does this work?" Iron Man asked.

"The controls seem to work on an Extremis Amplifier basis," Jarvis reported. "Simply link up to the remaining amplifiers, and you should be able to control Murderworld as easily as you do your armor."

"Alright. Let's go home."

* * *

Rhodey gripped the bus seat in front of him like his life depended on it. Mostly because it did. The bus he was riding was hurtling through traffic at eighty-five miles an hour and climbing, while being chased by the police. The bus had been hijacked, and by the looks of the RPG-7 the driver was sporting, they were going to get away with it.

Rhodey wanted to hit himself. First his best friend disappears, then Pepper fidns another clue that points Tony Stark as Iron Man, and now this? He was without a doubt the most–

The bus crashed to a stop, and everybody jerked forward. Glass shattered, metal bent, tires screeched. It was a textbook car crash, all except for the fact that the bus had crashed into a red an silver armored superhero. With one hand, the armored man tore off the front of the bus and yanked the bus jackers out of the vehicle.

"Iron Man!" Rhodey said, surprised to see his friend alive.

"You were expecting Spider-Man maybe?" Iron Man joked, a reference to the hero he'd fought alongside recently.

* * *

"And Murderworld was stolen in the aftermath," Controller reported to his superior. "I do have good news however my lord. We've acquired enough field data from the Mk VII to complete the prototype of the next model. It is ready and waiting for you."

The captain smiled. "Excellent. As the old Earth saying goes; if you want something done right, do it yourself."

The armor assembled itself around the captain, and as the faceplate shut, he let out a low, metallic laugh. "Let us see how Iron Man fairs against…Titanium Man!"

_My name is Bruce Banner. I'm not sure how much time I have…he's getting closer. Fury must have some new toy, because I've never seen this man before…if he even is a man. Oh no…it's happening…Next time on Iron Man Galaxies…Fighting For Fury! HULK SMASH METAL MAN'S FACE!_


	7. Fighting for Fury

_**So sorry about the missing last weeks update. Your reward for waiting? New chapter, a fabulous guest star, and a quick peek at the next season of Iron Man Galaxies. You know you love this. Read, review, favorite, etc.**_

Iron Man crashed through multiple trees before slamming hard into a rock and then clattering into the snow. His shields were offline, his sensors weren't working right, and he felt like vomiting which, in the helmet, wouldn't turn out very well.

"Ugh, what just happened?"

A loud, animalistic roar filled the air, and birds scattered. An enormous green goliath exploded from the trees, crashing to a halt right in front of Iron Man, fist cocked back.

"Oh yeah, now I remember."

* * *

"For the last time, I am not Iron Man!" Tony told the mob of reporters following him home.

"That's not what people are saying on the net Mr. Stark," a reporter told him.

"Well the net is lying," Tony responded.

"If you're not Iron Man," another asked, "who is?"

Tony was about to answer, but then smirked. "I dunno. Ask him yourself."

The reporters whirled around to see Iron Man hovering above them, looking down at them a stream of questions and camera flashes hit him, but he just jetted off into the sky.

The reporters grumbled and turned back to Tony Stark, but he was already gone. In the nearby alley, Tony met up with the waiting Iron Man.

"Thanks you Jarvis," Tony told the AI as he climbed into the armor.

"Always a pleasure sir," Jarvis dryly responded.

"I'm sure. Where's that disturbance now?" Tony asked.

"The anomaly is currently flying over Canadian wilderness, headed south for New York," Jarvis reported, and brought the GPS location of the anomaly onscreen.

"Alright, any confirmation that this is Extremis?" Tony asked.

"None sir, but the anomaly has remained undetectable by most humanly accessible means."

Iron Man flew off for whatever it was Jarvis had detected earlier. When he came upon where it supposedly was though, he found himself staring at open sky. If there was anything flying there it wasn't visible…in any spectrum.

"You sure we're in the right place?" Iron Man asked.

"Affirmative."

Iron Man sighed. He couldn't see anything, but Jarvis insisted it was there. Iron Man aimed and fired a quick repulsor blast, nailing something. The air seemed to flicker, and suddenly Iron Man was looking at de-cloaked SHIELD transport.

"Aw geez…"

"Something wrong sir?" Jarvis asked.

"We just made very important people, very mad at us," Iron Man explained.

The transport turned to Iron Man and open fired at Iron Man, sending a spray off bullets. The hero nimbly flew, spun, whirled, and dodged, only getting clipped now and again, and his shields took care of those.

Just when Iron Man was about to jet out of there, the rear end of the ship exploded, and a massive green humanoid leapt out, bullets briefly chasing him until the ship began to spiral out of control. Iron Man shot forward, using his strength and thrusters to guide the careening transport as best he could. They still crashed and the transport exploded, knocking Iron Man back. Flames danced across the wreckage, and for a moment Iron Man believed everyone on board to be dead.

That's when a lone SHIELD agent yanked himself out of the wreckage and pulled off his cracked helmet. The agent looked young, late teens with dark brown hair and an eye patch.

"Nick?" Iron Man asked, forgetting that only Tony Stark knew Nick Fury from high school.

"Hello Tony," he greeted. "Don't even play dumb, we know it's you under there. Why do you think SHIELD sent its top agent back to high school? To keep an eye on you."

"I'm flattered," Iron Man joked.

"Not to look after you Shellhead, to make sure you don't do more harm than good. Right now you're saving a lot of lives and us a lot of trouble by fighting the Extremis, but if that changes, I guarantee you and I will have a problem."

"Good to know. On to what just jumped off your transport…"

"The Hulk," Fury told him.

Iron Man didn't believe his audio receptors. "Come again?"

"The Hulk," Fury repeated. "My team and I were assigned to track him down and bring him back to base for containment. All but two of us died bringing him down."

"How many of you were there?" Iron Man asked.

"That's not important," Fury told him. "Anyway, then you showed and blasted us. I told James not to open fire, but he didn't listen until it was too late. The excitement of the dogfight brought the Hulk out again, and now he's on the loose."

"You're joking."

Fury just stood there when an angry look on his face.

"Okay, not joking," Iron Man gave in. "So, what do we do now?"

"_I'm _calling for a new transport. _You're _going to bring the Hulk back here before it shows up," Fury told him.

"How am I supposed to do that?" Iron Man asked.

"Figure it out," Fury told him. "And do it fast," he added.

"Why?" Iron Man asked.

That's when a roar shook the ground and trees toppled as the Hulk charged forward. Iron Man fired both of his repulsors out of reflex, but they had no effect on the Hulk. Hulk kept coming, and punched Iron Man in the gut as soon as he was close enough. Iron Man flew backward, crashing through trees and sending forest creatures running.

Iron Man used his thrusters to brake mid-air and hovered, searching for Hulk.

"How does something so big disappear so fast?" Iron Man asked.

"HULK SMASH!" a voice shouted, and Iron Man felt two massive fists slam him into the ground.

Iron Man grabbed Hulk's wrist and threw him off of him. Hulk crashed to the ground with a growl and jumped to his feet. Iron Man charged his repulsors and fired at Hulk's face, but still to no effect other than make Hulk angry. Hulk punched Iron Man across the face once, twice, and a third time before grabbing the metal man and slamming him into the ground with the force of twenty jackhammers. Iron Man struggled in vain to break free of Hulk's grip, but without success.

"Jarvis, I need ideas," Iron Man panicked.

Hulk threw Iron Man like a baseball, sending him crashing through more trees. Iron Man staggered to his feet and brushed the snow off of his armor.

"Well?" Iron Man asked.

"The Hulk own physical seems to be increasing at phenomenal rate," Jarvis reported. "Scans are showing his strength is direct related to his adrenaline levels."

"So I just have to calm him down," Iron Man reasoned. "Easy. I hope…"

Hulk exploded through the trees and into view with a loud roar of anger.

Iron Man held his hands up. "Easy Hulk. I don't want to fight."

Hulk grabbed Iron Man in his fist and started crushing him. Iron Man could feel his armor straining, but he did his best to stay cool.

"Quite a grip you got there," he managed.

"Hulk strongest there is!" Hulk proclaimed.

"I know. You're _very _strong. You're kinda hurting me there big guy," Iron Man said.

Hulk breathing slowed and his grip loosened. " Stupid Metal Man try to hurt Hulk…"

"My mistake, won't happen again," Iron Man said quickly.

Hulk let go of Iron Man. "Good... Metal Man not so stupid after all…"

Hulk's muscles started to shrink, as did the rest of him. His green skin turned to a pale human skin tone, and standing before Iron Man was Bruce Banner, human alter ego of the Hulk.

"Ugh, wha– who are you? Where are we?" Banner asked.

"Bruce Banner, the gamma radiation scientist? You're the Hulk?" Iron Man asked.

"Don't remind me," Banner told him. "They've been hunting me down for years…all because of the Hulk."

Iron Man thought of Nick Fury waiting for the delivery of the Hulk. Could he really stab Banner in the back like this? But then again, what choice did he have? Hulk was a danger to everyone. It had to be done.

"I'm sorry," Iron Man told him as he charged his repulsors.

"What are you doing?" Banner asked, and then he noticed the repulsor. "You're just like them. Heartless. Don't you people get it? The Hulk isn't the problem, you are! All he wants, all I want is to be left alone! Why can't you just…grr…HULK SMASH METAL MAN!"

Iron Man fired his repulsor a little too late. Hulk wasn't done transforming, so the blast did hurt him, but it didn't take him down as intended. Hulk roared and punched Iron Man across the forest.

* * *

The fist hit Iron Man in the gut, and he went flying into the air. He fell hard, leaving a small crater. He groaned and stood once again.

"Jarvis, connect me to Fury," Iron Man said.

"Connecting…"

"What do you want Iron Man? The transport is already here."

"Fury, you're on your own. I'm not hunting an innocent man," Iron Man told him.

"First off Stark, the Hulk isn't innocent! And second, if you don't comply with my direct orders, I'll make sure the entire planet knows who Iron Man really is."

Had he stopped to think it through, Iron Man might've been able to work things out with Fury _and _Hulk. But because he went on impulse, this happened:

"Kiss my iron a** Fury! I'm done playing your games!"

Iron Man shot into the sky, searching for the Hulk. When he found him, he fired off a quick repulsor to draw his attention. Hulk roared in anger.

"Hey Hulk! Got some new friends for ya!" Iron Man shouted.

Hulk jumped into the air and snatched Iron Man out of the sky. As they fell, Hulk repeatedly punched Iron Man anywhere he was exposed.

"I ow! know ow! you ow! don't ow! like ow! me ow! but I bet you ow! hate ow! SHIELD more ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! OW!" Iron Man said in between fist impacts.

"Who?" Hulk asked as they fell. He stopped hitting Iron Man.

"Mean men with guns!" Iron Man explained hastily. "They've been chasing you, remember!"

"Hulk remembers…" Hulk slowly recalled.

"Good," Iron Man said. "Because we're about to crash in front of them in three…two…one…"

The two heroes crashed to the ground, surrounded in seconds by SHIELD agents. Iron Man and Hulk slowly rose up, and forty SHIELD agents clicked off the safety of their weapons in unison. Hulk growled lowly, and Iron Man charged his repulsors. The two heroes stood back to back, and Fury stepped forward.

"Hulk, Iron Man, I'm placing you both under SHIELD arrest," Fury told them.

"You really think you can arrest us?" Iron Man asked.

"Hulk smash One-Eye," Hulk added.

Fury shook his head. "Cute. I don't think you know what SHIELD arrest is," he told them. "Let 'em have it!"

The agents open fired, but their bullets did little against Iron Man's armor or Hulk's hide. Iron Man returned fire, downing an agent with each repulsor blast. Hulk jumped forward and pounded two agents into the ground with one punch. Another sweep of his arm sent three more flying. Fury readied his own weapon's grenade launcher and fired.

The grenade caught Iron Man in the back, and without his shields the high-tech explosive damaged even his armor. The exterior plating was shredded, the paint was scorched off, and scratches criss-crossed the inner layer. Iron Man fell to his hands and knees, and the next grenade hit the ground in front of his face.

The faceplate tore and buckled, and Iron Man fell backward and crashed into the ground. The HUD flickered on and off, going to static every other second. Iron Man didn't get up, just lied there and watched Hulk tear into SHIELD ranks. Fury switched the clip of his weapon and open on Hulk. Several bullets tore into the Hulk's side, and he groaned in mild pain.

Fury sent another stream of fire at Hulk, and more rounds penetrated Hulk's chest. Hulk roared and charged Fury, but he dodged fired again. Hulk stumbled and fell as the rounds embedded in his back.

"Jarvis…what's going on?" Iron Man asked.

"Nicholas Fury is firing gamma absorbing bullets tipped with a rare metal known as adimantium," Jarvis informed.

"No he's not…" Iron Man said, and raised his repulsor.

The repulsor fired, and Fury was knocked to the ground, groaning. Hulk stood uneasily and sauntered over to Fury. He raised his fist.

"Hulk!" Iron Man shouted. "Don't…"

Hulk looked to Iron Man, then to Fury. He lowered his fist. "One-Eye never chase Hulk again?"

Fury glared at Hulk, but nodded. "Yes. But only if–"

"One-Eye stop talking," Hulk told him. "Or Hulk smash."

"Just do what he says," Iron Man told him.

Fury nodded, and slowly stood up. "Both of you…get out of here. As far as SHIELD knows, Iron Man was killed battling the Hulk, and Banner was later shot. One screw up though, and I'll come down on both of you."

"Understood," Iron Man said, and shot off into the sky.

Hulk grunted and leapt off in a different direction, roaming the globe once again.

* * *

"What is this?" Rhodey asked.

"The armor was damaged, I mean, really damaged," Tony explained. "So…I took apart what was left and I'm reconstructing it. Obviously I don't have access to the same tech the Extremis did when they built it, but I can get it back to working order on all levels."

"You're rebuilding the armor," Rhodey said, pouring over the table that was littered with components. "Wow…"

"We've lost track off the Mark VII's signal sir," the drone reported. "It must've been damaged."

"No," Titanium Man said. "Iron Man is still alive. I will not rest until I've pried the Mark VII off of his cold, lifeless corpse!"

_Argh, the pain. It started with a visit from a guy called Titanium Man. Pretty soon I'm on an Extremis ship with no armor, no way off, and an overdose of Extremis virus injected in my chest. Next time on Iron Man Galaxies: More than a Man. What's happening to me?_


	8. Season Two Preview

**Iron Man is a legend across the Extremis Empire. Originally sporting a stolen prototype armor, he single-handled repelled an entire invasion force. Now though, he faces even more threats in the new season of Iron Man Galaxies.**

**New villains…**

"Eat it Plant-Man!" Iron Man yelled.

"Justin Hammer's the name, taking down flying armored fugitives is my game."

"I am known by many names. You, human thief, my call me Iron Monger."

The Mandarin strode towards the wounded Iron Man, each of his rings glowing brightly.

**The return of old threats…**

"I told you not to screw up Shellhead," Fury told Iron Man. "But you've left me no choice…"

"Our returning champion Iron Man! Welcome back to Murderworld!"

"Whiplash? How did you–"

**But for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Just as he will face new threats, he will also gather new allies.**

**From new partners…**

"Watch your back!" War Machine shouted.

"Just call me Rescue!" the armored figure told Iron Man and War Machine in a clearly feminine voice.

**To heroic icons…**

"Thanks again Cap," Iron Man repeated. "For everything."

"That's the Fantastic Four. Jarvis, that's the FANTASTIC FOUR."

**As well as the return of old friends…**

"'Sup Iron buns?" Spider-Man greeted.

"Hulk remembers Metal Man! Metal Man get One-Eye to stop chasing Hulk!"

**Add some much needed humor…**

"Ladies, ladies, ladies," Thor said, and paused to flip his hair. "I'm handsome, and I–"

He was interrupted by a blast from Iron Man's repulsors. Wasp and Black Widow both looked angrily at him, but Iron Man only shrugged. "Don't act like you didn't want me to do it."

**Romance…**

"Jolt! You're alive!" Tony yelled and embraced his presumed dead friend. She returned the hug, nuzzling into his shoulder.

"Lyra please!" Iron Man begged. "You're brother was trying to kill me, he was threatening innocents, I had to do something!"

"Why should I believe you?" Lyra asked.

Iron Man hesitated before answering. "Because you love me."

"What are you staring at?" Black Widow asked.

"Do you even have to ask that question?" Iron Man asked, his tone perverted.

**More romance…**

"So…you and Bethany huh?" Tony asked his best friend.

"Shut up Stark," Rhodey sighed.

Tony finally pulled away from the kiss. "I enjoyed that. Is that weird?"

"I-I don't think so…" Pepper told him, blushing a little.

"I think it's weird," War Machine put in.

**New tech…**

Iron Man's fists crackled with electricity, and he fried the first Extremis guard's armor with one punch. Three more approached, and Iron Man fired of a wave of electrical energy, wreaking havoc on their shields and frying two of them.

Iron Man gripped the fallen plasma turret, and the armor remolded itself so that Iron Man's right arm was now a plasma gun. With a smile, Iron Man opened on the incoming soldiers.

"Where'd he go?" one Extremis asked.

Iron Man seemed to materialize out of thin air and punched an Extremis marine across the room before disappearing once again.

**And a finale you can't miss…**

Iron Man struggled to breath inside his horribly shredded armor. He stood, finding it difficult to move while carrying the weight of a lifeless armor. Iron Monger landed softly in front of him, and grabbed him by the throat.

Nearby, War Machine tried to fire his wrist laser, but they merely sparked and went dark. Inside, Rhodey finally lost consciousness. Rescue lay sprawled across the floor, her armor completely destroyed from her fight with Titanium Man.


End file.
